Bob Sillett and Lamrock joined the other office holders on the club committee.

A scratch match was played on Saturday 15 April.

Melbourne had a nightmare season, failing to win a match against a VFA club until July. Ironically it was against the eventual premiers Geelong. The club played 23 matches in total, but it was arguably their worst season ever. They were still holding strong to their view that the sport should be amateur and refusing to covertly play players under the guise of 'training expenses'. When East Melbourne pulled out of the competition late in the year it left the Reds on their own in last place for the first time.

Though they were successful in a match against the visiting South Australian premiers Norwood, and in their traditional season opener against the Public Schools, the two wins in a row at the end of July and the start of August would be their only success against senior Victorian sides all season.

On Saturday 19 August a match against Carlton at East Melbourne was abandoned due to Carlton's protest against George Coulthard being suspended for the season by the VFA due to disorderly conduct in the previous Saturday's match. They would only take the field if Coulthard was permitted to play, and Melbourne would only play if Carlton took responsibility for defying the association's ruling. The dispute was eventually resolved and the match was played two weeks later.

Murdoch McKenzie was named in the papers as one of the best players in the league, with Dave Aitken and Dave Rannard in the best follower and both S. Thewlis and Robertson in the best 'all rounders'

It was announced at the club's next AGM that poor performance in 1882 was down to "a want of practice on the part of playing members", but a dissenting opinion from one member blamed bad management by the committee, poor captaincy by Dave Rannard and a bad secretary. He criticised the club for picking players based on reputation rather than by blooding new players. Henry Harrison argued back that the captain and secretary of the Second 20 were always consulted before team selection. A selection committee was appointed on resolution of the meeting. Rannard initially resigned from the club but returned in August the next year.

The club spent 359p 19s 2d and made 308p 15s. Despite the loss the cash balance on hand at the end of the year was still 148p 0s 11d.

A match was reportedly played against 'Telegraph' on 19/08, with Melbourne losing 4.5 to 2.10. The senior team were at the disputed Carlton game and a Second 20 match was played on the same day, so it was probably not the MFC.

The club was reportedly going to accompany Carlton on a trip of Sydney but this doesn't appear to have happened.